This is that boring part of all internet recipes where someone tells their life story before sharing the actual recipe :)... In a year filled with great change and some degree of hardship for all, one of my own biggest silver linings of the past year has been reconnecting with my love of cooking.
Turns out it's a double joy -- I find peace in my sous chef prep work of cleaning & chopping + great fulfillment in feeding my family and friends.
New recipes, favorite recipes - the one thing they have in common is furthering my belief... That nutritious and delicious cooking can be fun and simple for all!
In that spirit, I present some of my favorite new recipes of late!
Mix & match these savory items for:
BREAKFAST
LUNCH
DINNER
Recipe 1: Balsamic Bean Salad from Fried Dandelion
This is a lovely no-cooking fiber-rich side salad or main dish! I highly recommend throwing on a plate of greens of your choice (lightly drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice) and topped with your choice of toppings - suggestions below:
Hemp Seeds
Roasted Sunflower Seeds
More Lemon Juice
More Parsley
Hard-boiled Egg
Fresh Tomatoes
You name it!
Recipe suggestion - I halved the maple syrup and added the juice of one lemon.
Recipe 2: Chickpea Omelet from Rachel Ama (who is just so cute)!
Trying out a vegan lifestyle or just don't love eggs or just want to mix it up? Get a bag of chickpea flour (or besan flour) and make a stovetop omelet!
For my version of the omelet, I had roasted a panful of vegetables a couple days before.
Quick roasted veggies recipe:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Add Eggplant (1 diced) to foiled roasting pan (or pan with ledge on all sides) and spray with Olive Oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper or favorite spices. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add Yellow Squash (3 sliced) and 1 sweet onion (diced) to same pan. Coat with spray & sprinkle with seasoning. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add tomato (3 of any kind diced) to same pan. Coat with spray & sprinkle with seasoning. Cook the whole sheet for 20 minutes.
Take out of oven and add enjoy over rice with beans AND literally add to almost anything over the course of the next few days. I love having roasted veggies around!
For the "egg in the omelet," I used 1/2 cup of chickpea flour, 1 tsp of baking powder and ultimately about 1/2 cup of water (added gradually) + a handful of chopped parsley, then adding about a 1/2 cup of the roasted veggies.
Using an electric oven range, I heated up my pan at medium heat, sprayed it well with olive oil spray and and dropped in the batter. I waited about 3-5 minutes until it was bubbling and made a clean flip! A couple more minutes on that side and the savory omelet was ready!
Cuz I like my food pretty, I plated the omelet and added parsley, tomato, salsa, and avocado!
Recipe 3: Homemade Nachos (by me!)
Making the Tortilla Chips:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Place foil on baking sheet and spray with olive oil or coconut oil spray.
Use however many corn tortillas you want (I use 4-6 for a filling dinner).
Pie-cut each corn tortilla used into 8 triangles. Place on foil lined baking sheet.
Spray top of tortilla chips with same oil spray. Sprinkle liberally with your favorite seasonings (I love Trader Joe's Everything but the Elote spice, but a mix of paprika, cumin, and salt would do you fine too!).
Bake in oven for 5 min.
Remove from oven and flip chips. Replace in oven and bake for 2 more min.
Adding the Fixins: In the meantime, assemble your toppings and heat up what needs to be heated. Here are some of my favorites toppings:
Black Beans
Cheese - I only had Swiss one day and dang, that was good!
Shrimp or another protein
Salsa
Avocado or Guacamole
Jalapenos - fresh or in jar
Olives
Tomatoes
Yogurt or Sour Cream
Whatever you want, do your thing!
Make a beautiful plate! When making nachos, I always like to plate about half of the chips and add a layer of beans and cheese. From there, add the rest of the chips and the rest of the beans & cheese and all the other fixins!
The most important last step in any recipe?!